The Australian Outback of THE ROVER
is a world ten years after a great
Western economic collapse. It's a
near future of social and economic
decay. Services, utilities, law and
order have fallen into dangerous
disrepair. And yet people from all
corners of the world have come to
this place to work the mines that feed
the new world alignment, that feed
the great powerhouses of this, the
Asian century.

The world of the movie, as such,
mirrors the American and Australian
gold rushes of the 19th century.
People are drawn to the land's mines
and with them come the leeches, the
refuse, the hustlers and criminals who
hope to exploit the mines' margins.
This isn't a complete collapse of
society—it's an inversion of
present–day global power dynamics.

And at the centre of this world are
two men—one, a murderously
embittered Australian man, a former
soldier who has lost his farm and his
family; the other, a simple and naive
American boy, too young to
remember a time when things were
anything other than what they are.

– David Michôd

INCREASE YOURBROWSER SIZE FOR THEINTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE.

ECONOMIC WEALTH

INCOME INEQUALITY

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

LIFE EXPECTANCY

MIGRATION

PRESENT

FUTURE

COUNTRY:

PRESENT:

FUTURE:

REMAPPING THE FUTURE

The consequences of a Western economic collapse would be felt globally. The outback of Australia is just one corner of the planet where people might come to try and eke out an existence.

This interactive map is a visual guide to the global economic and demographic landscape—in our present day, and a hypothetical near future where the balance of economic power has been entirely inverted.

Explore categories using the drop-down menu at the top of the page, and hover over specific countries to compare factual data from the present, with fictional data from the future.